Addressing Chronic Absenteeism. Position Statement. Revised

School attendance is essential for academic success. Significant loss of learning time due to chronic absenteeism critically impacts academic attainment and places students at risk for school dropout and potentially negative lifelong effects on health, education, employment opportunities, and financial stability. To resolve chronic absenteeism, it is critical to first identify underlying root causes. Causes are often related to health, academic, school, family, community, or structural factors. To successfully decrease chronic absenteeism, it is essential that "school nurses routinely be included as integral members of school attendance teams" (Rankine et al., 2021, para 38). As members of school attendance teams, school nurses provide expert guidance on student health, safety, and social-emotional factors. School nurses contribute critical health perspectives to the development of individualized attendance intervention plans, school programs, restorative practices, and equitable policies that address chronic absenteeism. [This Position Statement was initially adopted in June 2018 and revised in June 2023.]